Passage 1:
My daughter, Jane, never dreamed of receiving a letter from a girl of her own age in Holland. Last year, we were travelling across the 1. and Jane put a piece of paper with her name and address on it into a bottle . She 2. the bottle into the sea. She never thought of it again, but ten minutes later, she received a letter from a girl in Holland. Both girls write to each other 3. now. However, they have decided to use the post office. Letters will cost a little more, but they will certainly travel faster.
Passage 2:
I had a letter from my sister yesterday. She lives in Nigeria. In her letter , she said that she would come to England next year. If she comes, she will get a 4. . We are now living in a beautiful new house in the country. Work on it had begun 5. my sister left. The house was completed five months ago. In my letter, I told her that she could stay with us. The house has many large rooms and there is a lovely garden. It is a very modern house, so it looks6. to some people. It 7. be the only modern house in the district.
Passage 3:
I enter the hotel manager’s office and sat down. I had just lost £50 and I felt very upset.‘I left the money in my room,’I said, ‘and it’s not there now.’The manager was
8. , but he could do nothing. ‘Everyone’s losing money these days,’he said. He started to complain about this wicked world but was 9. by a knock at the door. A girl came in and put an envelop on his desk. It contained £50 . ‘I found this10. this gentleman’s room,’she said. ‘Well,’I said to the manager, ‘there is still some honesty in this world! ’
The famous composer（作曲家）, Albert Roussel, didn’t have a good start in this career. However, he achieved a great deal of success as a result of a _______ .
Roussel’s parents died when he was eight and he went to live with his ________ . As a little boy, he fell in love with music and ________ himself about it by reading through the family collection that his mother kept, ________ which there were a lot of related books.
Three years later, Roussel’s grandfather died, and his mother’s sister decided to _____________ him. Her husband was a kind man and _______ for young Roussel’s music lessons. One summer vacation at a Belgian seaside added a second ________ to his life—the sea. Then he studied to be a naval cadet（海军学员），but still made time to study _______ .
In the French Navy, he and two friends found the time to ________ a band, playing the works of Beethoven and other _______ . Roussel also began composing. On Christmas day 1892, he had his first chance to ________ as a composer, which turned out to be a success.
That success _________ Roussel to write a wedding march（婚礼进行曲），and one of his navy friends ________ to show it to a famous conductor, Edouard Colonne. When Roussel’s friend ________ with the manuscript（手稿）, he reported that Colonne had advised Roussel to ________ his naval career and devote his life to music.
Not long _______ , at the age of 25, Roussel decided to _______ Edouard Colonne’s advice. He gave his heart and soul to his composing and ________ a major force in twentieth century French music. Because of Eduoard Colonne’s inspiring ____ , Roussel devoted his life to music—but Rousssel’s ________ friend later admitted that he had made it up. He said he had never even shown Roussel’s manuscript to the famous conductor.
1.A. joke B. guess C. lie D. hope
2.A. neighbor B. grandfather C. aunt D. teacher
3.A. chose B. taught C. improved D. asked
4.A. before B. between C. within D. among
5.A. raise B. catch C. miss D. leave
6.A. applied B. paid C. looked D. waited
7.A. love B. page C. wish D. job
8.A. art B. English C. music D. dance
9.A. deal with B. set up C. make for D. take away
10.A. singers B. teachers C. professors D. composers
11.A. produce B. perform C. study D. publish
12.A. found B. forbade C. encouraged D. wanted
13.A. came B. refused C. offered D. brought
14.A. went B. ran C. left D. returned
15.A. give up B. keep to C. begin with D. focus on
16.A. however B. therefore C. then D. afterwards
17.A. repeat B. change C. follow D. correct
18.A. grasped B. replaced C. improved D. became
19.A. advice B. request C. order D. will
20.A. navy B. school C. music D. work
Controlling Anger
Becoming angry is something beyond the control of people.1. Becoming angry can do a lot of damages, both mental and physical. However, there are methods for discovering how to control anger and not suffer later.
● 2. The moment you feel there are chances of you becoming angry, get away from those circumstances. In fact, there can be no better a judge than you, for discovering what it is or who it is that makes you become angry, and then at that moment choose to think about something else that can lighten your feelings.
● Keep a check on your breathing. 3. By controlling the process of breathing, you can actually slow down your anger greatly. You can count till the number three as you breathe in, hold it for 3 seconds and again count till three while breathing out. You have to concentrate on the count as you do this and repeat for as many times as is required.
● 4. For example, if you're experiencing road anger while driving, you can choose to tell yourself that the person who overtook you by a vehicle was in a hurry as a result of some emergency and appreciate the fact that nothing major had happened to your car. Repeat this form of self-talk to yourself every time you are in the middle of such an angry situation.
● Look for a support in other people. 5. It needs to be clear right at the beginning as to why you are discussing your concerns with that individual. Let the other individual know what you want from the other person. After you're done with your part of discussing about the circumstances, chances are that you'll feel much better than before.
A. Talk to yourself positively.
B. Come to a stop as soon as you are angry.
C. Try to see the situation in a different light.
D. You can also ask for help from the one you rely on.
E. What you can do when you become angry is to breathe deeply.
F. In fact, almost all people at one point of time or the other become angry.
G. You can imagine going to a place you consider to be calming as well as relaxing.
Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal. Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.
Different cultures emphasize the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries, like the UK or France, people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafe rather than at the office.
Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion, instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realized that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values, however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.
1.What’s the probable meaning of the underlined word “emphasize”?
A. To draw special attention to. B. To ignore.
C. To laugh at. D. To get close to.
2.The author mentions his experience in Thailand to show that _____.
A. the English prefer to make long speeches
B. too many words are of no use
C. people from Thailand are quiet and shy by nature
D. even talk and silence can be culturally
different
3.According to the text, how can people from different cultures understand each other better?
A. By sharing different ways of life. B. By accepting different habits.
C. By recognizing different values. D. By speaking each other's languages.
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A. Multicultural Environment. B. Cross-Cultural Differences.
C. How to Understand Each Other. D. How to Build Up a Relationship.
Today, the world’s diversity (多样性) of food crops is quickly decreasing. But scientists around the world are taking action. They are building seed banks. At seed banks, scientists store the seeds of many different crops.
There are now 1,400 seed banks around the world. However, some banks are in warm countries. If the electricity fails, the seeds will get too hot and die. Other seed banks are in countries troubled by war. Sometimes people damage the seed banks. If this happens, valuable seeds can be lost forever!
The organization Global Crop Diversity Trust decided they wanted to deal with this problem. So, they decided to build a global seed bank. This seed bank would contain a back-up, or extra copy, of all the world’s seeds. Smaller seed banks would still collect and keep local seeds. But they would also send copies of their seeds to the global bank.
Scientists from the Global Crop Diversity Trust chose the cold, snowy mountains of Svalbard, Norway to build the global seed bank — the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (斯瓦尔巴全球种子库). Organizations, farmers, or local seed banks store their extra seeds there. And the people who place their seeds in the vault are the only people who can take them out. They pay to ship their seeds to Norway, but it does not cost them any money to store their seeds. The Global Crop Diversity Trust pays for this.
Cary Fowler is a scientist who heads the Global Crop Diversity Trust. He said, “If the Seed Vault simply supplies seed banks with copies of seeds that those banks lost by accident, the Seed Vault will be worth more than it cost.”
1.Seed banks are built to ______.
A. research on seeds B. produce new seeds
C. protect crop diversity D. increase the number of seeds
2.Compared with other seed banks, the global seed bank ______.
A. was built by the government
B. is more welcomed by farmers
C. is mainly used by great scientists
D. can provide a good environment for seeds
3.What can we learn about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?
A. It helps to pay the shipping cost.
B. No one can take seeds out of there.
C. There are no fees to store seeds there.
D. It mainly receives seeds from farmers.
4.What is Cary Fowler’s attitude towards the Seed Vault?
A. He feels it is very important. B. He is surprised at it.
C. He thinks it costs too much. D. He is uncertain about it.
At thirteen,I was diagnosed with kind of attention disorder.It made school difficult for me.When people else in the class was focusing on tasks,I could not.
In my first literature class,Mrs.Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it,all within 45 minutes.I raised my hard right away and said,“Mrs.Smith,you see,the doctor said I have attention problems.I might not be able to do it.”
She glanced down at me through her glasses,“you are no different from your classmates,young man.”
I tried,but I didn’t finish the reading when the bell rang.I had to take it home.
In the quietness of my bedroom,the story suddenly all became clear to me.It was about a blind person,Louis Braille.He lived in a time when the blind couldn’t get much education.But Louis didn’t give up.Instead,he invented a reading system of raised dots（点）,which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.
Wasn’t I the “blind” in my class,being made to learn like the “sighted” students?My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance.I completed the task within 40 minutes.Indeed,I was no different from others;I just needed a quieter place.If Louis could find his way out of his problems,why should I ever give up?
I didn’t expect anything when I handled in my paper to Mrs.Smith,so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day-with an “A” on it.At the bottom of the paper were these words:“See what you can do when you keep trying?”
1.The author didn’t finish the reading in class because_______.
A. He was new to the class B. He was tried of literature
C. He had an attention disorder D. He wanted to take the task home
2.What do we know about Louis Braille from the passage?
A. He had good sight. B. He made a great invention.
C. He gave up reading. D. He learned a lot from school.
3.What was Mrs.Smith’s attitude to the author at the end of the story?
A. Angry. B. Impatient.
C. Sympathetic. D. Encouraging.
4.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. The disabled should be treated with respect.
B. A teacher can open up a new world to students.
C. One can find his way out of difficulties with efforts.
D. Everyone needs a hand when faced with challenges.
